This week's article includes keep it Connor carrying Chicago, Dorofeyev lighting lamps in Vegas, Dostal dominating for the Ducks, PLD lost for a while, and Ullmark scuffling for Ottawa.
First Liners (Risers)
Connor Bedard, C, CHI: Bedard, the first overall pick in 2023, posted 61 and 67 points, respectively, his first two seasons. He showed signs of dominance but was impacted by the lack of talent around him. With Frank Nazar stepping up his game as the second center, Bedard has been red-hot lately, including notching his first career NHL hat trick. Through 13 games, Bedard is up to six markers and 10 assists, nearly as important, he is a plus-seven after posting a combined minus-80 his first two campaigns.
Leo Carlsson, C, ANA: Carlsson improved from 29 to 45 points last season even though his ice time fell nearly two minutes a game. He is off to a big start to the 2025-26 campaign, posting three goals and seven assists during his current six-game point streak. With that point streak, Carlsson is up to five tallies, 11 helpers, 27 shots on net, seven blocked shots and a plus-7 rating through 11 appearances. He is more than ably settling in as the Ducks' first line center and set up for a big payday this offseason.
Bobby Brink, LW, PHI: Brink went from 11 goals and 12 assists in 57 games in 2023-24 to 12 tallies and 29 helpers last season. He has settled in as
This week's article includes keep it Connor carrying Chicago, Dorofeyev lighting lamps in Vegas, Dostal dominating for the Ducks, PLD lost for a while, and Ullmark scuffling for Ottawa.
First Liners (Risers)
Connor Bedard, C, CHI: Bedard, the first overall pick in 2023, posted 61 and 67 points, respectively, his first two seasons. He showed signs of dominance but was impacted by the lack of talent around him. With Frank Nazar stepping up his game as the second center, Bedard has been red-hot lately, including notching his first career NHL hat trick. Through 13 games, Bedard is up to six markers and 10 assists, nearly as important, he is a plus-seven after posting a combined minus-80 his first two campaigns.
Leo Carlsson, C, ANA: Carlsson improved from 29 to 45 points last season even though his ice time fell nearly two minutes a game. He is off to a big start to the 2025-26 campaign, posting three goals and seven assists during his current six-game point streak. With that point streak, Carlsson is up to five tallies, 11 helpers, 27 shots on net, seven blocked shots and a plus-7 rating through 11 appearances. He is more than ably settling in as the Ducks' first line center and set up for a big payday this offseason.
Bobby Brink, LW, PHI: Brink went from 11 goals and 12 assists in 57 games in 2023-24 to 12 tallies and 29 helpers last season. He has settled in as the Flyers' second-line right winger, seeing two additional minutes of ice time per game. Brink is making good use of that extra action, notching four points, including three assists, and 17 hits in his last seven games and seven points (three goals, four assists) in 11 contests on the season. Skating on the second power-play unit, Brink has a good chance to set a new career-high in points.
Pavel Dorofeyev, LW, LV: Dorofeyev is doing his best Cy Young impression. If you thought he did so last season with 35 goals and 17 assists, you haven't seen anything, yet, Dorofeyev has been a sniper early this season with nine tallies in 10 games, but he has added just one helper, so his win-loss record is amazing. His 27 percent shooting percentage will fall, but that should be offset by Dorofeyev tallying some apples skating next to Tomas Hertl and Mitch Marner on the Knights' second line.
Brock Faber, D, MIN: The bloom came off the rose for Faber last season, as his production went from 47 points as a rookie to just 29 points last season. Zeev Buium started the season on the Wild blueline, assuming first-unit play time. Faber is still seeing major minutes and showed this past week that he can still produce offensively, posting five points in a pair of contests. Granted those five points are his sole production in 13 games for the season, but at least he showed his offense is not fully in mothballs.
Jake Walman, D, EDM: Walman made Detroit look bad last season for dealing him to Edmonton, tallying career-highs in assists with 33 and points (40). He missed the first six games of the season with an undisclosed injury but has been living the good life since returning. Walman signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension with the Oilers in October and has already notched a goal and six assists in just eight contests. He seems minimal power-play ice time skating on the second unit, though he showed last season that was not a limiting factor.
Lukas Dostal, G, ANA: Dostal stopped 32 of 33 shots to notch a 4-1 win over the Devils on Sunday. The victory was Dostal's third straight win, and he's allowed just five goals on 93 shots in that span. Dostal's performance between the pipes is a big reason why Anaheim is 7-3-1 and leads the Pacific Division. Dostal entered the season as the Ducks' No. 1 netminder, following the trade of John Gibson to the Red Wings. He has shown that he is up to the task of that role in his first full season as the starter.
Elvis Merzlikins, G, CLM: This could almost be a joint entry between Merzlikins and Jet Greaves, as both Columbus goalies have been solid. Merzlikins, who entered the season with questions about his role with Greaves playing well down the stretch, likely has been the bigger surprise. He is 4-2-0 record with a 2.98 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage across six appearances. The two netminders should continue to split appearances, reducing the overall value of each but allowing both to retain some value.
Others include Logan Cooley, Jack Hughes, Nazem Kadri, Marco Rossi, Mitch Marner, Victor Olofsson, Philipp Kurashev, Morgan Geekie, Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Tuch, Conor Garland, Dougie Hamilton, Josh Morrissey, Erik Karlsson, Jake Sanderson, Cale Makar, Tristan Jarry, Thatcher Demko, Brandon Bussi and Yaroslav Askarov.
Buy Low
Jordan Kyrou, LW, STL: Kyrou has been remarkably consistent the past four seasons, posting between 67 and 75 each of those four campaigns. In addition, he has notched at least 34 goals each of the past three campaigns. Kyrou is off to a slightly slow start for him with four markers and as many apples in 13 contests. He has heated up recently, notching goals in three straight games the last week of October. But his minus-seven rating is a bit unsightly, and maybe he can be pried from an impatient owner.
Training Room (Injuries)
Pierre-Luc Dubois, C, WAS: PLD, scoreless in six games played and having missed time earlier in the season with an injury, will now be out for a while. He suffered a lower-body injury in the first period last Friday against the Islanders and is expected to be sidelined for an extended period. Dubois registered a career-high 66 points, playing in all 82 games, last season, his first in Washington. But so far this season has been a washout for the 26-year-old pivot.
Others include Elias Lindholm (lower body, injured Thursday, will miss a few weeks), Tyson Foerster (lower body, injured Saturday, placed on injured reserve Monday), Jake Neighbours (right-leg, out at least five weeks), Justin Brazeau (upper body, injured Saturday, missed Monday's game), Radko Gudas (lower body, missed fourth straight game Sunday) and Jacob Markstrom (lower body, started last Tuesday and is back as the primary goalie).
Fourth Liners/Press Boxers (Fallers)
Chandler Stephenson, C, SEA: Seattle inked Stephenson to a seven-year, $43.75 million contract with the Kraken in July of 2024. At the time, the signing was a bit head scratching with Matty Beniers projected as the team's stop center, making Stephenson the second-line center at best. Stephenson posted 51 points for the second straight season in 2024-25 with 18 coming on the man-advantage, He is off to a little bit of a slow start, and his max output looks to be 50 or so points, so be careful not to expect what we saw when he was in Vegas in 2021-2023.
Zayne Parekh, D, CGY: The future is very bright for Parekh, though that future may not start to be fulfilled until next year. He has already played 10 games, meaning that a year off his entry-level contract has been burned and he will be sticking around with the Flames. View this as learning on the job, as Parekh, who has tremendous offensive talent, only has one assist on the season. He may need to wait until either or both Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar are moved to start fulfilling that potential.
Linus Ullmark, G, OTT: The Senators are tied for fourth in league in goals for at 46; on the flip side, Ottawa sits 30th in goals-against with 51, just one shy of the worst mark in the league. Ullmark's play in net has contributed to their poor defensive standing. In 11 contests played, he has posted a save percentage above .900 in just four, sitting right now with an unsightly .861 mark for the season to go along with a 3.41 GAA. If Ottawa is to make the playoffs, Ullmark will need to play more like the goalie we saw the past two seasons, while the bottom defensive pairing needs uplift as well.
Others include Barrett Hayton, Sam Bennett, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexis Lafreniere, Damon Severson, Jamie Drysdale, Filip Gustavsson and Dustin Wolf.
Sell High
Corey Perry, RW, LA: Perry injured his knee in training camp, requiring surgery, forcing him to miss the first six games of the season. He has been unstoppable since returning to action, scoring five goals with a pair of assists in seven contests played. Perry is skating on the fourth line and on the second power-play unit, making his early-season performance a bit of an aberration, He notched 19 goals last season for the Oilers and should have a chance to crack the 20-goal barrier. But he is a sell-high since his scoring pace will fall.
